The monkhood status of a policeman whose motorcycle hit and killed a doctor was thrown into uncertainty after the National Office of Buddhism opposed their ordination.
The NOB did not make an official position on the widely debated issue, but it posted a comment of its spokesman on Tuesday against the ordination of Pol L/Cpl Norawich Buadok, 21.
NOB spokesman Sittha Moonhong told CH7 News that the policeman could not be ordained because he was facing charges and the case was still ongoing, according to the NOB's post on Facebook.
The office had informed senior monks in charge of the religious jurisdiction of Wat Pariwat Ratchasongkram, and the decision to end his monkhood would rest on the temple, the spokesman added.
The anti-riot policeman had been informed of seven charges after his Ducati hit and killed Dr Waraluck Supawatjariyakul, an ophthalmologist of the faculty of medicine at Chulalongkorn University, on Phaya Thai Road in Ratchathewi district on Friday.
He and his father, Pol Sub Lt Nikom, an officer at Pathumwan police station, entered the monkhood on Monday to make merit for her.
However, his ordination has drawn criticisms and questions from many people, as his criminal case is still ongoing, prompting the NOB spokesman to make the statement.
Phra Khru Sathit Bonyawat, the abbot of Wat Dan who ordained them, told Thai News Agency that he was asked for a favour by his counterpart at Wat Pariwat to ordain the two.
Phra Khru Sathit said he had been informed that Pol L/Cpl Norawich agreed to leave the monkhood on Wednesday to end the issue, but his father would continue being a monk.
Wat Pariwat, where the two monks stay, is on Rama III Road in Yannawa district of Bangkok.